Well I'm a little bummed....

Well we were supposed to have a jumping lesson today but sandy was sick :(. So me and amy were going to just do a practice jumping thing....but when we got there, there were 6 people in the indoor...including Elvis..and his rider its like 4 people combined! she takes up the WHOLE ring, and he actus up and its just not pleasant to ride around them. SO me and amy went on trail rags LOVED it! and was splashing in a puddle as we crossed it. SO amy let him play for a few seconds and he went down on his front knees he was going to ROLL in it ha! we both sorta let out excited screams and he jumped up and took off and bucked. Just playfully though and not uncontrollably. He kept getting all antsy and bucky when we'd go past a jump. I really think that he LOVES it! ha! Anyways OH i was riding Legs btw (the standardbred mare that i really like, but doesnt canter at all :(...its the most horrible canter i have ever ridden! and thats saying something) BUT she LOVES to jump.

When we got back to the farm only about 20 minutes later it had cleared out in the indoor except for laura and kelly's lesson. But we didn't feel like dragging the jumps out for such a short amount of time, and there were still 4 others in the indoor other than us. So me and legs just worked on trotting, serpentines, her relaxing. We work really well together, she wasn't all speed racer ish, or choppy. She was nice and fluid (until the lady on the thoroughbred kept getting to close, legs will kick horses if they get too clost to her hind end..so i had to warn the lady who obviously wasn't paying attention. I dunno about others, but when i'm in a ring with horses i don't know i watch for body langauge of the other horses i am passing!) anyways i think we work well together I really like that mare.

Afterwards the dressage club all got together and went out to eat. I wasn't happy with my food, i ordered my favorite...ribs....BUT they were really tough and WOULDnt come apart, they were solid fat for the most part. I didn't want to eat there anyways (the 99) but oh well, they had a "new" menu. I won't go back again thats for sure! but it was nice to see everyone for the last time before the summer.
kim~

THE SHOW!

OH I completely forgot! our FUNSHOW! it went really well, Cory made it up! we were really worried at first, she was our judge (i used to ride with her during the summer) and she was really sick! but she made it, and the show went on without much of a hitch, we finished @ 4pm had 22 classes, and started at 9:30! which isnt too bad considering we wanted to start at 9. It was great, we made some money for next show season. Unfortunately its not enough to pay for all of our showing costs for next semester, but good enough. A girl did break her nose (ouch!) because her horse threw his head up and popped it, and then another girl realized that YES she had indeed broke her tailbone the daybefore...doing gawd knows what! So that was the drama that accompanies any organized event, but for the most part no one was seriously hurt YEAH! Can't wait for next year. We learned a lot, and will make some more changes for next year. YEAH! :)
later~

hmmmm catch up!

Well for some reason ove r the last week, whenever I tried to get on and POST something some stupid error would pop up. So of course i'm like WTF! anyways....lets see jumping lesson on Fritz last Saturday! I fell off AGAIN! this time it was because we were coming up to a fence and I was a little too far forward, he decided not to do it, and I couldn't correct myself. So in VERY slow motion off I went. I find it really hard to jump babies. I obviously am doing what I am supposed to be doing...Otherwise they wouldn't keep putting me on them. BUT GAWD! it really is shattering what confidence in my riding ability that I have! I've always been not as confident as I should be, but whatever, it strives me to be better and thats all that I want.

Anyways I don't remember much of the lesson other than the fact I was basically working on Fritz to engage his hind end over the fences and increase impulsion, so I guess for the most part thats what i achieved. I rode Ty last thursday for my dressage lesson. We have been riding him in a german martingale for the last couple of months because he keeps spooking and dumping riders...but its weird, its as if he is doing it on purpose. Like he is trying to get the rider off. He spooks at nothing and continues to spook (especially if the rider can't put the foot down so to speak) until they are off. So far i'm the only one he hasnt dumped *knock on wood* Its not like he didn't start it with me though. The second he starts i just sit as heavily as i can, and try to rein him in as tight as possible, and occasionally i'll smack him with the whip if i feel him getting towards that state to bring his attention back to me.

Amy keeps harrassing me about that part....but oh well its all in good fun right? anyways today I rode Rags. This horse amy is IN LOVE with. He's a wicked cutie, it was an interesting lesson. He doesn't like contact, its such a weird concept, you ask him to put his head down, completely give him the rein and he's happy as a clam. Cantering is so just weird on him. He tends to canter with a huge haunches in, its almost like your riding two seperate horses! Bryn had me work on straightening him out, boy did THAT make my thighs tired! Then she let me go over a couple of fences with him. Laura was on Chip (meg had to cancel today) and she even went over a couple. I think she liked it, he is such a good little jumper! Her two jumping lessons with us, she was on Ty, and hes a HORRIBLE jumper, i feel bad that they put her on him to jump! It will be nice next semester when we are all back, because she will be able to jump Chip then :). He hasn't been jumped in awhile because of an abcess and had pads on his feet. And since we all go home next week :) SO very exciting.

Anyways I didn't feel like i gained anything from this last lesson, nor really any of the lessons i've had over the last couple of weeks. No offense to bryn and sandy, I just wish I would ride a really NICE horse :) you know 4th level school master, that can REALLY teach me stuff. Oh well. Tomorrow is my last jumping lesson (well lesson total) for the semester! I can't wait, sandy said i could ride Wish :) She is a cute little morgan mare, that i LOVE. and she LOVES to jump, and she isnt a baby! and I CANT WAIT, we are going to work on big fences. It's been so long! I hate little fences they bore me, ESPECIALLY when i'm on a baby that is so wishywashy I feel useless! So i'm very excited for tomorrow. AND she shouldn't CRAZY because she was ridden today AND yesterday :)! OH so exciting :) Till then~

Fritz with his much deserved apple. He shreads his apples with his teeth, IT TOOK FOREVER for him to eat it! Such a cutie. He has such an old man's look to his face!
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Laura and Ty :) they do so well together!
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Amy and Jack...I LOVE this picture! its so cool
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me jumping Fritz after our wonderful spook and fall combo ! ha
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The week of babies

Well on thursday I rode Titan. He is a 3 year old thoroughbred gelding. It was the first time he was used in a "lesson" All we did was just walked and trotted around, at a very long rein. He was a sweety. I did ask him to canter in both directions and that went well too. He was so good. At the trot he collected himself really nicely without any real contact. He is very calm for a baby, so much so that we introduced the whip because he started to ignore nudges with my leg...heel...AND some really hard kicks...to the later he grunted a little, but didn't respond. He was a little scared with the whip "following" him, but by the end of the lesson he was fine with the whip and responded with a gentle tap. :) good training session for him.

Today with our jumping lesson I rode Fritz. I've ridden him before in a dressag lesson. He is almost 4, and has had a lot more training than Titan has. He ended up spooking and side stepping. I dunno if it was just me zoning out/not paying attention because of being tired? or what but I fell off. The sad part is that I've sat worse spooks than THAT. Oh well it didn't hurt..and I got "chocolate" out before the others (the first person to yell chocolate when someone falls gets a candy bar ha!)...anyways so the jumping was a little rocky at first, but once I calmed down and stopped riding "aggressive" we worked really well together. :). Amy rode Jack in this lesson and Laura rode Ty....she fell off TWICE! I felt really sorry that she fell off. I find it amusing when I fall off, but I don't like it when others do. She still holds Ty as her favorite horse at puckerbrush! ha! I have some fun blurry pictures from jumping that I'll post. More later
kim~

Jumping get together

Tonight the team got together for a fun little jumping session. We went over the jump courses for the show :) I rode Wish, a little morgan mare, that was CRAZY....She is the type of horse that needs to be ridden EVERY day....and since her new owner bought her she has only been ridden a couple times a week tops. So now when someone gets on her, she immediately starts prancing around. If I touched her at all, seat, leg, ANYTHING she would get faster and faster, half halts were just impossible. I finally got her to settle down (well as far as she was going to....once she found out we were jumping!) If I asked her to down transition she would canter in place until she finally broke into a trot. I was told she looked scary. But it was all pretty fun, she was just so excited! She would fly over the fences like a bat outa hell! And definately didn't want to stop. GO GO GO was her only mode! So it was fun :) and I hope we do it again.... (oh and btw HI marie ;) i know your snooping ha!)
kim~

The two show teams :) from U-Maine! YEAH!
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Me, trying to sheld myself a little more from the sun ;) At the JandW show :)
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Show #2 Rhode Island

Well the show went well this weekend. Everyone placed last except for brandi, she place 10th. I think it was good overall considering the fact that almost EVERY rider from the other schools were in levels that they shouldn't be competeing in. There were WAY to many first level riders riding Intro....It was like that for all the different classes. So with that AND the fact that this was our first time showing I think we did rather well. I ended up being the only person from our two teams to place. I'm glad that at least one of us placed. :)

It was held out side, so I am very burnt! but all in all, very good ;)
kim~

Ty and draw reins...

Well today when I went out to Puckerbrush Sandy told me that I did really great on Rocci on monday! She said that bryn told her, she hadn't seen anyone collect him that well (unless it was sandy) in over a year. So that was a nice complement. I like getting those ;). Anyways I rode Ty today with Draw Reins. He actually went so well I wasnt even using the draw reins! Half way through we ended up taking the draw reins off because he was going so well. We did some trotting and canter work. He didn't spook once, and he was moving nicely. Bryn took some pictures of me riding him, because they are going to sell him. He is too unpredictable. He is a one person type of horse. I usually have nice rides on him though, so I dunno if maybe I am one of the ones he likes? He likes Laura too, she never has a problem with him either. His spooking seems so deliberate with everyone. Amy (the previous owner) said that she never got along with him, and that he only liked specific people. I was the first person to ride him, once he came to Puckerbrush, so I am thinking that may be why I have good rides with him. I told bryn and sandy that I would be willing to ride him in the next few lessons so that he has a consistant rider, so that they could take more pictures, and make it easier to get rid of him. So we shall see
kim~

Dressage lesson with Rocci

Well my monday dressage lesson was on Rocci. I'm not super fond of him. I find him obnoxious to ride. But our lesson went well. He has the most horrendous sitting trot. My stomach was so sore afterwards. We did some leg yeilding. It wasnt too good, and I felt sloppy. Then we worked on the Canter. That went well. Bryn said that I did a really good job collecting him and moving him forward. He didn't like it, and he kept swishing his tail, and every so often he would kick out with his front and hind legs. Bryn said that he hadn't really had anyone ride him in a while that collected him, and make him move forward. So overall it was a good lesson. Amy ended up getting off after the first 15 minutes, so in a sense I had a private lesson for a half hour. She was just showing her nerves for the upcoming show in Rhode Island.
kim~

warm up some more
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Warm up....
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Here comes my pony through the muck!
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marie, me and anna UMaine Dressage Team A.
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Change in direction
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Me on Premiere, the Morgan gelding that was assigned to me :)
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SHOWS!!!!!

WELL! it was a LONG weekend! We left at 1pm from the motor pool to drive to U-mass. We were supposed to leave at 12:30 but Dan was late...what a surprise. We got to our hotel at about 7:30, and went out to Applebees for dinner. They took FOREVER to feed us, and then Bryn's dish was REALLY dirty. The manager tried to tell her it was "stained" because of the new colored dishes going through the dishwasher with the white ones. Yet she had food stuck to it....there's a BIG difference. And dishes aren't like clothes...they dont "bleed" in the wash. Whatever. So that didn't go as well as it could have. We got up at 6:30 To drive to the Hadley farm (thats the university of mass's farm) it was only a 5minute drive from the hotel, but we wanted to leave by 7:30 to get there before registration started @ 8am, and we didn't really know how to get there. We had directions but that doesn't mean we wouldn't go the wrong way on accident. Dan was late AGAIN. *grr* I was soooo pissy.

Anyways so we got a good group of horses, ended up getting group one, and draw one, meaning we were the first to ride in each of our classes. What fun ;). Everyone laughed when Sandy pulled the numbers. We made a good presentation of ourselves. I placed Fifth in Training 4. There were 9 schools, and 12 teams, with a total of 48 riders. I was the only one in our team to place. But I am so proud of everyone! The horses were spooking all day long. I think it was just the weather because on Sunday all the horses at the puckerbrush show were spooking like crazy too!

Because of the rain the show ended up going over by 2 hours. We didn't leave the farm till 6pm, and didnt get packed up, food, gas, and on the highway till 7pm. We got back to the Motor pool at 1:30am!!! and of course the clocks were supposed to "spring ahead"! *grr*

I got in bed @ 2:30...couldnt fall asleep.....go figure! So barely 4 hours later I was up again. 6:30am I got out of bed, and got ready for the Puckerbrush show. It went well, I got 2nd in my Training 2 test, and 3rd in my Training 4 test. Jack was really off the whole day. He was super spooky, I don't really know why he doesn't normally act that way. I couldn't get him to calm down, and I couldn't get him to focus. It was so confusing. There were so many rude people there too. This one lady kept pinning me and jack against the wall in the warm up. She was this fat nasty lady on this big percheron type horse. She had her test READ to her! I don't think that should be allowed. If you can't take the time to learn the test...you shouldn't be showing. IMO!

I started crying after I left the ring from the training 2 test. It was so bad. Just before I went in, Sandy said I'm tired! And I said yeah I am too...and felt tears just as she said, I feel so tired I could cry. I agreed and went into the ring. When I came out Sandy said Good job! and I burst out into tears. She asked me why I was crying, and all I could say was I'm SOOO tired! ah so emotional ;).

Anyways, I felt as though my second test went a lot better than the first. I scored lower, but I felt like it went better than the first one. He was together with me more. I gave up messing with his face, because when I did, he would react. He did the same thing with amy! Sandy and Bryn are gonna have the dentist out to check his teeth. He is "all of a sudden" very sensitive with his mouth. So we shall see what happens with that.
Both of these tests were primarily 5's some 6's and some 4's....most due to the fact that I couldn't get him to relax and pay attention he kept spooking and bucking, and doing lead changes bah! BUT she gave me a 7 on both of my tests for Rider seat, position, and use of aids. So I was very satisfied.

Anyways so that was the weekend. I got home at ~ 4pm, talk to dew for awhile, got ready for bed, went to bed at 6:30, and didnt get up till 8:30 the next morning. I was still REALLY tired, but atleast I wasn't crying over everything! ha! I hate that. When i get tired first i start to be really giggly...then if i stay up too much later, i get really emotional over EVERYTHING. All in all it was a great weekend! I'll put some pictures up when I get them.
kim~